I was recently introduced to an article by Charles Miller. (Cheers @jamesjefferies)
In it he explains the benefits of Google Chrome Frame.
Google Chrome Frame
Google Chrome Frame is an early-stage open source plug-in that seamlessly brings Google Chrome’s open web technologies and speedy JavaScript engine to Internet Explorer. With Google Chrome Frame, you can:
- Start using open web technologies – like the HTML5
canvastag – right away, even technologies that aren’t yet supported in Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8.- Take advantage of JavaScript performance improvements to make your apps faster and more responsive.
Basically for most web pages, all you have to do is add a single tag to your pages and detect whether your users have installed Google Chrome Frame.
- If Google Chrome Frame is not installed, you can direct your users to an installation page.
- If Google Chrome Frame is installed, it detects the tag you added and works automatically.
And that’s it.
No trickery like IE6 Update, which, incidentally, I think is a great way to get users to update their browser, even if it is unethical.
Not only will your users not have to upgrade their browser, which for many large corporate organisations, could cost millions of pounds upgrading turn-of-the-century Intranets written to work in, and only in, Internet Explorer 6.
Users can benefit from open source, up and coming software, and see the web at it’s best!
What do you think?
Richard Jones - September 23, 2009
Cool. But if you have written loads of CSS hacks for IE6 and put them in a conditional comment, will they still get used? Ideally they wouldn’t.
I’m going to test it.
Jonny Haynes - September 24, 2009
I’m guessing they wouldn’t be used as it’s switched it’s rendering engine to Chrome.
Let me know how you get on.